No one cares about Rihanna’s race until it comes down to business

Even Rihanna, one of the world’s biggest stars, can’t escape racial prejudice.

In a profile in the upcoming issue of T: The New York Times Style Magazine, the pop star, 27, opens up about what it was like being made aware of her race after moving to the US from her home country of Barbados when she was still a teen.

“You know, when I started to experience the difference — or even have my race be highlighted — it was mostly when I would do business deals,” she tells interviewer Miranda July.

No one cared about the “Bitch Better Have My Money” singer’s race when it came to performing. And while some may attribute the change in attitude that she noticed to her age at the time, Rihanna made clear that it’s something that continues to this day.

“And, you know, that never ends, by the way. It’s still a thing,” she said. “And it’s the thing that makes me want to prove people wrong. It almost excites me; I know what they’re expecting and I can’t wait to show them that I’m here to exceed those expectations.”

The pop star also talked about what it was like leaving home when she was so young, something she doesn’t think she could ever let a child of hers do, though she is glad her mother had faith in her.

“That’s something I don’t think I could ever do,” she said. “Send my only girl to another random country to live with people she’d just met. It had to be God that paralyzed [my mother] Monica Fenty’s emotions so that she’d say, ‘Yes, go.’ To this day, I don’t know how that happened. But thank God it did.”

Rihanna also noted that when she stands up for herself — as she did when she trashed basketball player Matt Barnes for hinting at a made-up romance between the two — it lets her mother know that she’s doing well.

“She’s always impressed when she sees me being a little sassy or sharp, when she sees me defending myself,” the singer said. “It makes her feel safe, like she doesn’t have to worry about me.”